Aatmapamphlet

Aatmapamphlet

It's a Marathi movie but I am writing this in English so that more people understand it and more people watch this movie. It's definitely beyond a language!

A Love letter to the 90s but so much above and beyond nostalgia. Every scene is loaded with meaning and one feels like pausing, rewinding and watching it again. Rather than the typical nationalistic, jingoistic, "in your face"nonsense which sells like hot cakes today this was a breezy, understated movie yet stating so much without actually saying it aloud. There was an underlying innocence not just due to the child actors but throughout the expression of the movie itself and at the same time it was sarcastic and witty. I felt like this should be a compulsory watch for all Indians let alone maharashtrians. Religious and caste discrimination is sadly rampant or rather has increased now and a better film hasn't been made on this topic. What seemingly is a coming-of-age story of the protagonist is actually the coming of age story of our nation. Even the way they chose to end it was so clever, they could have gone down the harsh realistic route but instead they chose utopia which may look like a nicely tied red bow but actually shows the impact every small story can have on a larger scale.

The saddest part was even in a city like Pune the theatre was only half full. We need to encourage regional cinema and brave storytelling as an audience. Please give this movie a chance, it deserves it.